Just because Celtics owner Steve Pagliuca says the Celtics can roll out five or six 7-footers doesn’t make it true.

Sure, since the addition of Darko Milicic on a one-year, $1.2 million veteran minimum contract, the C’s feature three legit 7-footers (Milicic, Jason Collins, Fab Melo) and Kevin Garnett, who insists he’s 6-foot-11 but had a bird’s-eye view of Nenad Krstic‘s receding hairline. Throw in 6-foot-10 Chris Wilcox, and Pags isn’t far off. That group could give forwards Brandon Bass, Jared Sullinger and Jeff Green a Napoleonic complex.

Still, the Celtics can roll out all the bigs they want. That doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be any good. We heard the same rhetoric when the C’s entered the 2010-11 NBA season with Shaquille O’Neal, Kendrick Perkins, Jermaine O’Neal and Semih Erden at the 5. So, what should the Celtics expect from these pillars of Boston?

By Ben Rohrbach | Comments Off on Jason Terry: ‘My mission is to kill’ Heat, Lakers

The way each member of the Celtics brass lobbied for Jason Terry in his foursome at the team’s annual charity golf outing (owners Wyc Grousbeck and Steve Pagliuca won out, obviously), you wonder whether Doc Rivers & Co. lured Terry more for his ability to replace Ray Allen on the course rather than the court.

But really C’s president Danny Ainge sought Terry for three simple reasons: Scoring, scoring and more scoring.

“We wanted a scorer off the dribble,” said Rivers. “We do it every year right after the season: I always sit down and write Danny a long letter about needs, and that was my No. 1 need.”

So, Rivers knew exactly who to put on speed dial once NBA free agency began, and as Terry said, “When Doc calls, you answer.” The conversation probably went something like this: Your mission, Jason, should you choose to accept it, involves the recovery of a stagnant offense.

“My mission is to kill, whoever that is, whether it’s the Heat or whether it’s the Lakers — hopefully both,” said the 35-year-old Terry, “but that’s my mission, and that’s what I’m here to do.”

By Ben Rohrbach | Comments Off on The wait is over: Jeff Green signs Celtics contract

On Wednesday afternoon, Jeff Green tweeted, “FINALLY!!!” And the Twittersphere erupted with the assumption that after a summer of intrigue the forward put his signature on a Celtics contract. Sure enough, five hours later, the C’s officially announced his re-signing.

“We are thrilled to be able to have Jeff back with the Celtics,” Celtics president Danny Ainge said in a press release. “Jeff’s versatility on offense and ability to guard players out on the perimeter is something that we are looking forward to having on the court this season.”

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but previous reports indicated Green would sign for four years and $36 million. The announcement puts an end for now to a nonstop string of questions, mainly about his health following season-ending heart surgery last season. It also ensures the centerpiece from the C’s perspective in the Kendrick Perkins trade of 2011 will remain in Boston.

“I cannot wait to get back out onto the court,” said Green in a prepared statement, “and help this team towards our goal of winning another championship for Boston.”

During the 2010-11 NBA season, Green averaged 9.8 points (48.5 FG%, 29.6 3P%, 79.4 FT%) and 3.3 rebounds in 26 games for the Celtics. He also averaged 7.3 points and 2.7 rebounds over nine playoff games.

Considering their financial commitment, the C’s are surely hoping those numbers will approach or exceed his career averages of 13.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.6 assists in 315 games, including three-plus seasons for the Thunder and Sonics franchise.

UPDATE: Just two additional items of note from Steve Bulpett’s story in the Boston Herald on why the contract took so long to finalize: a) Green’s agent, David Falk, said complications from the collective bargaining agreement and other “side issues were more complicated than expected once they agreed on the basic parameters”; and b) insurance complicated matters (what’s new?), according to his player source.

Two years ago, as a rookie, Avery Bradley actually tried to hide in practice.

‘I didn’t want to get in, because I was so scared of KG [Kevin Garnett] yelling at me if I messed up,’ he said during a panel Thursday hosted by Jessica Camerato at the Boston Celtics Shamrock Foundation’s Summer Soiree. ‘I would sit on the sideline. I might not even get in the whole practice, because I didn’t want KG to yell at me.’

You forget Bradley’s only 21 years old, since he’s the elder Celtics statesman on a panel that included newcomers Courtney Lee, Kris Joseph and Dionte Christmas. How far the shy kid has come from Tacoma, Wash.

‘We’re like a family,’ added Bradley, making his third charitable appearance in as many days. ‘These guys are going to learn that we’re like a family on and off the court. We all hang out. We all go to each other’s house. It felt good to be part of a family, and I felt a lot more comfortable around the guys.’

It was once almost impossible to elicit more than a few words from Bradley, who could often be found fixating on the floor from a chair at his locker. Now? Camerato couldn’t get him to stop talking.

‘You guys are going to be happy once we start that first day of training camp because all we want to do is win,’ he added. ‘We’re a family. We don’t care about anything but winning. To be part of a team like that, it makes you feel comfortable, because there’s no pressure. You’re not going out there worrying about scoring or doing things you can’t do. You do your role and everything else will work itself out and we’ll win games.’

The only subjects he wouldn’t expound upon were his right and left shoulders, deftly explaining, ‘I’m just taking it day by day,’ four times during an interview session prior to the public panel. And when someone from the crowd later blurted out, ‘Avery, when you coming back?’ he simply smiled and said, ‘Can’t tell you.’

Of course, it wasn’t always so easy for Bradley. As a rookie, he averaged only 5.2 minutes over just 31 games, shooting 34.3 percent from the field and precisely 0.0 percent from 3-point range. And it seemed worse.

Here’s all you need to know about Celtics sign-and-trade acquisition Courtney Lee before this NBA season begins: He took less money to play in Boston, and he doesn’t care whether he starts or comes off the bench.

“I had a lot of different offers from a lot of different teams, but the one I really wanted to come to was Boston,” Lee said Thursday from the Boston Children’s Museum, where the Celtics held their Summer Soiree to benefit the Shamrock Foundation. “So, I spoke to my agent and I spoke to my family. It was a decision that I had to take less money to come here, but in that I’ll be winning, I’ll have a chance to play on TV. That’s what everybody wants to do. They want to win big and a chance to win a ring, so it was a no-brainer for me.”

In town for his first public appearance as a member of the Celtics and to find a place to live for at least part of his four-year, $21.5 million contract, Lee joins a shooting guard logjam along with Avery Bradley and Jason Terry after being signed-and-traded from the Rockets in a complicated deal that involved the Celtics shipping JaJuan Johnson, E’Twaun Moore, Sean Williams, Sasha Pavlovic and three second-round draft picks out of Boston.

Still, when asked if he preferred starting to backing up Bradley upon his return from surgery on both shoulders, Lee said all the right things while not giving up too much outside of the fact he and Celtics coach Doc Rivers have already discussed his role “in details” over dinner multiple times.

Pietrus is “still open to a return,” according to his agent Bill McCandless, but the 30-year-old free agent swingman will not play for the NBA’s veteran minimum salary — which, after his nine years in the league, is $1.23 million.

‘MP will not play for the veteran’s minimum. Period,” said McCandless. “It’s not happening. That’s the beginning, middle and end of that. … He is not a veteran’s minimum player. There’s no chance he’ll ever sign for that.”

That leaves the $1.96 million bi-annual exception as the C’s only option, but that may not be enough. While Pietrus signed for the $1.22 million minimum after being waived by the Suns in December, the French-speaking Guadeloupean has “a standing offer triple that overseas,” his agent said. They’ve also engaged in serious talks with several NBA teams, including one Monday, “and the money was much more than the veteran minimum.”

The NBA draft is over. Summer League is over. And for the Celtics, free agency is essentially over. So, with the addition of former Hawks center Jason Collins and the training camp invites to Summer League stars Dionte Christmas and Jamar Smith over the weekend, the C’s could field a 15-man roster as currently constituted.

The depth chart is beginning to take shape. While Danny Ainge could still welcome Mickael Pietrus, Keyon Dooling or another player into the fold for the veteran minimum, the hard part is done. None of the four recently re-signed players or eight new additions could even be traded until December 15, and Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo and Avery Bradley don’t appear to be on the block, so any changes to this group would be a minor tweak at best.

That being said, let’s take a look at how this season’s depth chart stacks up to the one that finished the playoffs.